Retelling the events of the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American and Japanese perspectives. Inspired by MoH Pacific Assault, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. I do not own any of the MoH games or either of the movies listed above.

The warm rain from a
Pacific storm soaked the iron decks of the freighter Tanaka Maru as
it left the Mitsubishi owned dry-docks in Nagoya. On board were some
3,000 troops including Private Yoshi Fukuda, a first year draftee. He
had already thrown up once and the ship had only been moving for a
few minutes. The sailors, who were on deck at the time snickered at
him, he had gotten used to that, the Army and Navy had never gotten
along well. Fukuda was about to venture below decks before something
caught his eye. Passing right beside the Tanaka Maru was the
legendary battleship Yamato. The behemoth was almost twice as
long as the Tanaka Maru and was armed to the teeth with 18-inch guns
and 16-inch thick armour plating. She was the most feared vessel in
the world. Fukuda had his own private doubts though, her sister ship
the Musashi had been sunk nearly 3 months earlier at the
battle of Leyte Gulf and he feared that the Yamato would find
its way to the bottom of the sea before the war ended.

Another ship followed
close behind. This one however had two large gaping holes in its
stern, signs of an American torpedo attack, either by their bombers
or submarines. After the two ships passed, Fukuda proceeded below
decks with his uniform and hat soaked right through to his skin. He
shivered and took off his uniform as soon as he entered the warm and
cramped storage bay.

"Damn this rain"
Fukuda complained. One of the other soldiers slapped him on the back
of his head.

"At least it isn't
hot outside or this place would be like an oven" he replied.

"Silence in the
ranks!" he bellowed ferociously. "The Home Islands are under the
threat of invasion. We have been assigned to the island of Iwo Jima.
The rest of the division will be arriving after us. When the
Americans invade, show them no mercy for they deserve none. If they
threaten the Emperor then we will eliminate that threat. May the
Emperor live ten thousand years!" he finished.

The entire ship erupted
into a cheer, praising the 109th Infantry Division and
offering toasts towards Emperor Hirohito. Afterwards Fukuda joined a
few of his squad mates in a game of poker.

The entire trip took
only a few days but those days were the longest and most boring days
of Fukuda's young life. The troops were packed like sardines
underneath an iron plated deck. After the rainstorm it was blazing
hot and below decks felt like being in an oven for days. You could
only do two things; stay below decks and play cards, read or write
home. The other option was to go on deck and do exercises, push ups,
crunches, wall sits, basically whatever the officer on deck thought
of.

Fukuda was lying on his
mat reading a book when one of sailors opened the hatch and called
down to the Major.

"Major Inoue, we have
reached our destination" he announced.

"Alright men form up,
rank and file move it!" Inoue yelled. Fukuda immediately fell in
behind another first year conscript named Satou. As they proceeded to
the deck a sickening smell washed over the men. It smelled like
sulfur and that was confirmed when the island came into view. The
small, barren rock was completely devoid of vegetation save maybe a
few dead trees. The soil was pitch black, much darker than any soil
Fukuda had ever seen.

"Welcome to Iwo Jima"
chuckled Inoue.

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